Carcharocles – the biggest shark of all

(car-kye-row-clees)

HOW BIG IT WAS

This tooth is about 13 cm high. C. megalodon had an estimated length of over 15 m long.

Picture a shark’s mouth so large you could walk inside it. This fossil tooth is from an extinct shark called Carcharocles megalodon, sometimes simply called Megalodon or ‘Meg’.

These sharks were apex predators in the oceans, and were the largest sharks known. Fossilised teeth like these have been found in locations around the world, suggesting that Megalodon was widespread. This fossil is from a site near the Victorian town of Hamilton.